Since the end of the year, the drought-plagued areas of north Georgia have received plentiful rainfall and there's more on the way.

Does this mean the drought is over?

Is it possible that as we turned the page on last year we've also turned the page on the drought?

"There’s no way it's over,†assistant state climatologist Pam Knox said emphatically Thursday. Still, she likes what she sees - a more normal winter weather pattern.

"We’ve finally seen that this high pressure system that's been over us for long periods of time has broken down, at least temporarily,†Knox noted, “at least temporarily. “So, we're getting a lot more of this action coming in."

In Georgia, we’ve been influenced by a weather feature called La Niña, which has set up in the Pacific Ocean. Knox calls it the rock in the river. "Where the rock is in the river this year is diverting storms away from us," she said.

The strength of La Niña is peaking right now.

A number of scientists have issued their forecasts as to how much longer we'll be under the influence of La Niña here in the southeast. Many of those predictions seem to indicate that she will have loosened her grip by this coming July.

And without that rock in the river, maybe Georgia will get the tropical storms that usually brush the state, but didn't last summer and fall.

"In Georgia, up to fifty percent of summertime rain can come from tropical systems,†said Knox.

Knox advised waiting until the winter is over before we start talking about the end of the drought. "Every rain is a good rain, right now,†she said. “I think we have a long way to go before we break the back of this thing."

Knox said what we need to break this drought is a long period of slow, steady rains to soak deeply into the ground.